Solaris

Director: Tarkovsky

Release Date: 1972

The scientific mission on planet Solaris has stalled because the crew has fallen into emotional distress. A psychologist, and our main character, Kris Kelvin, travels to the space station to evaluated the situation, only to encounter the same phenomenon as the others. 

The Polish science fiction novel, written by Stanislaw Lem, is adapted by Tarkovsky as a drama of grief with a little bit of recovery. The concentration of the film is on the thoughts and the consciences of the scientists study the alien life on Solaris. The film has an incredibly slow pace. While watching it, I often which I had the novel; I felt like it went slow enough to read along. Western science fiction films are often fast paced, with lots of special effects. Solaris could be easily contrasted with them.